Would like to know what unusual sightings you have seen in Kruger. For example, one of the forumites saw otter in Kruger which I certainly had not heard of before.

I'll start (since I started the topic )1. Honeybadger and caracal jogging down the road outside Pretorioskop - never seen anything like it before!2. The s28 saga where the cheetah caught the impala and was in turn caught by the leopard and both cheetah and impala carried up into the tree.

Oh, and if anyone has seen a brown hyena in Kruger, this is the place to say so!!!

Saw two rangers cut off a dead buffalos head with an axe and take spinal fluid samples for resurch as they did not know why it had died.The next morning we went back to see what had happened, there were 3 different types of vulture,hyhena and black backed jackel the stench was dreadful,this all happened at Kaya Pan.

a) Croc taking big Impala ram - the impie was swimming/jumping across a very low Timbavati river when it hit quite deep water and had to swim. Next minute a croc hit him from the front - horns and all - gone. Over in seconds - very disturbing though.b) Caracal take out a francolin in the air. The animal is unbelievably agile.c) Watching a herd of elephants smelling the bones of an elephant that had recently died. It was incredible to watch them pick up some big bones, walk away with them, put them down and spend minutes just sniffing them - could have sworn we saw a tear or two!!

KNP is sacred.I am opposed to the modernisation of Kruger and from the depths of my soul long for the Kruger of yesteryear! 1000+km on foot in KNP incl 56 wild trails.200+ nights in the wildernessndloti-indigenous name for serval.

Here are some pics sent onto us by Laura one evening a couple of weeks ago. As you will read below she took these herself.

The mother looking for the young one.

I hope you don’t scare easily. I don’t think I ever shared with you this story last year when I sent to the rest of SANParks colleagues; did I?

One of the best sightings I had ever seen; I saw everything when it started, as quick as a lightning and froze at first before calling out our security personnel at the reception so she could come and witness what I was seeing.

Let me leave the office before I see another similar incident through the office window.

Kind regards

Laura MukwevhoMedia RelationsKruger National Park

We asked if she minded we share this amazing sighting with everyone on the forums.

I hope they enjoy it as much as you did. You know it took a while for me to take those pics. I kept pressing the camera, then backing off but because it was raining I had to keep calm and snap some pics quickly.

I am happy to have shared this with you. I didn't wait to see the whole swallowing as the process was slow, it was also raining and already dark. Herewith a brief story of how it all happened.

On 20 November 2009 , I went to the office after hours at around 18:30 to attend to some emails. Shortly after that, I heard some funny impala noise outside the window (behind our offices). Initially I ignored the noise as impalas sometimes make such noise but thought why can’t I just look through the window?

Lucky enough it was not yet dark outside and just a few metres away from the offices building next to some rocks/slabs, there, three impalas (mother and her two kids) were crying out. I was quickly fascinated and noticed that the other kid was struggling; trying to free itself, but was not succeeding. That’s when I saw a heavy weight python (not sure of the size though), biting one of the kid’s leg, rolling itself around the poor baby impala while the mother impala watched, trying fruitlessly to rescue its child and crying helplessly.

There was no way I was going to go out and get closer alone so I called the Section Ranger, Albert whose phone was off then tried the Regional Ranger, Mr Tukela, who was not around in Skukuza. He advised me to call the Chief Animal Health Technician from the State Veterinary Services who was around so we could take close pictures. I have seen and taken photos of small snakes at a far distance in the park but never anything like this, a python about to swallow prey larger than its head; just outside our offices. This was quiet a memorable experience, one of the benefits of working and staying in the bush.

I had to go back to the scene again the following morning to check what happened the previous night but found nothing, just some tracks (it was still raining) and of course the mother impala wandering aimlessly there, making a deep faint noise different to the one she made the previous evening. I imagined she was overwhelmed, looking and mourning for her young one. The rain continued to pour and I left the mother impala in the vicinity so she could find some closure privately.

Lolo (Laura) thank you for sharing your story with us ... it made wonderful and insightful reading.

AND A HUGE WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!!!! You have been marvelous in responding to the mods' emails with questions on the forums, so you are very well known to most of the members, but it is still a thrill to officially welcome you to the forums - and what a special first post!

Eg. Seeing Elephants mating or a giraffe giving birth or a leopard eating the carcass of its own cub etc

For me I have seen an elephant in the distance in the last stages of giving birth to her calf . I didn't get to see the calf falling onto the ground but almost . the elephant disappeared behind a bush .

Carrim, having visited KNP on a regular basis since the early fifties, we have certainly had our share of unusual and interesting sightings. One that had my wife in tears about 5 years ago occurred on the Maroela loop. (one of our favourites) A huge male baboon was sitting in the middle of the road with a large troop gathered around him forming a complete circle and being about 6 metres away from him. He had a small, what looked like an Impala lamb in both hands. When we arrived he had just started his meal, he had the head in his mouth like an ice cream cone sucking out the brains. He ate the whole lamb while we sat watching, the only car there, and my camera battery flat. Every time a member of the troop so much as moved he snarled, bared his big teeth and they would scuttle back. After devouring the poor thing, and leaving only a few pieces of skin and bones, he slowly got up and moved away with the others storming in for a bite, to no avail, nothing was left.Our weirdest sighting.On our way from the Pafuri picnic site after having breakfast we saw something that few people will believe. I am convinced of what I saw and my wife will bear me out.We were travelling very slowly, hardly moving, a white object caught my eye to the left moving at incredible speed and parallel to the road, moving in the direction that we were travelling. It was about 50 metres away with very little bush around. It did not appear to be pursued by a predator, but was really moving. We both grew up on farms and immediately ID it as a goat (Boerbok)This happened about 10 years ago before the Pafuri gate was moved and upgraded, the nearest fence was probably 10 Km away, how could a stray domestic goat survive so deep into the park? Has anyone else experienced a similar incident?Sneeugans

I have been visiting Kruger religiously since I was three years old and have had the privilege of witnessing MANY interesting sightings in Kruger!

My favourite has to be a sighting of a battle between a leopard and a honey badger. Early one morning, having been first out of the gate at Lower Sabie, we headed for one of my favourite roads in the park, the Salitjie road. After having a pretty disappointing morning we were nearing the end of the road when suddenly a young male leopard dashed across the road! Excitement at last!! But when we next looked a honey badger crossed the road too - looking rather annoyed! For the next 10 minutes we watched as the honey badger and leopard took turns in chasing and 'mauling' each other. It was surreal! The leopard eventually retreated after having quite a thrashing by the honey badger! The honey badger strutted around for a while - very proud of itself - and then scuttled off into the river bed!

Study nature, Love nature, Stay close to nature. It will never fail you!